Blind cache hunting

[horsepower]

Do successful cache hunters usually follow leads and ferret out a specific cache or are most caches found just stumbled across by probing likely areas? I'm new at this (actually don't even have a decent detector--I've got a radio shack cheapie I used to find my lost wedding ring once and also use it when one of the horses pulls a shoe in the mud around home) and just wondering about the best approach.

My particular situation is somewhat unique. I live in the area that was decimated by order #11 during the civil war. Actually, I'm within 5 miles of the location for the Battle of Lone Jack. I'm in a rural farming area with access to several thousand acres of private land (a lot of which may well have never been detected--being a neighbor garners easier access than a stranger) that should be chock full of relics and if I could locate the homesteads, probably also caches buried before the forced depopulation of the county. These folks had to leave and mostly left on foot. They had to carry what they could with them and I imagine a number of them buried valuables to be retrieved later. Many never returned. But all of the homes were burned so I am trying to hunt down an old map that might help me in locating these homesites for extreme northeastern Cass County. Any ideas or insights.

 

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[chipveres]

Hoping the courthouse wasn't burned down, check old property tax records. Tax collector, recorder of deeds, town surveyor, etc. Even the barest tax record can tell you whether a house existed, or it was just land. And any record you can get is better than going in blind.

Chip V.

 

[chirper97]

Welcome to Treasure Net, Horsepower!

Please continue posting to your thread.

No specific locations should be posted, but it would be very interesting to learn more of your quest for information.

Take the reader by the hand, and list your steps:
"Went to the Tax Department, asked for tax records for 1850...., located home and business sites...."

How did you get permission to search an interesting site?

Keep it generic so that your area won't get crowded.

If you DO find a cache, your thread would one of the very best on Treasure Net, and would be invaluable to its members. What is typically missing are the actual steps from a SPECIFIC cache recovery.

Here is a thread I started requesting Treasure Net members to share such information:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,218330.0.html

 

[lastleg]

horsepower:

I encourage you to do further research in regard to the "forced depopulation
of the county". A cursory read of the Lone Jack battle on Wiki indicates the
area was pro-south with Yankees more or less contained in the Kansas City
vicinity. It was indeed a bloody battle but I have not found a reference to
citizens being burned out or fleeing for their lives.

However since you live nearby you may have information otherwise. It sure
helps to have access to large rural areas to detect. I am sure there are old
homesites that hold relics and perhaps small caches as well.

Incidentally, Cole Younger had a leading role in the battle of Lone Jack.

lastleg

 

[RJGMC]

HORSEPOWER,

Glad to see another neighbor on the board. If you want some company with an extra detector or two, let me know when the weather gets warmer. I can only swing one detector at a time and that would leave several Garretts doing nothing. I really do not care for winter. But it is a good time to do the legwork and bookwork to help make a successful hunt. Try www.flashearth.com for some great aerial photos. They are usually pretty current. The you can look over the spots that are of further interest. I am not too far from you, Blue Springs. Have always wanted to make a few trips out near Lexington also where the war was also waged. Did I tell you that I really do not like cold weather? LOL

Good luck!

Bob

 

[horsepower]

horsepower:

I encourage you to do further research in regard to the "forced depopulation
of the county". A cursory read of the Lone Jack battle on Wiki indicates the
area was pro-south with Yankees more or less contained in the Kansas City
vicinity. It was indeed a bloody battle but I have not found a reference to
citizens being burned out or fleeing for their lives.

Google the Battle of Lone Jack museum and read about order number 11. The rural areas of 3 entire counties and part of another (Jackson, Bates, Cass and part of Vernon) were forcibly depopulated by a specific date, all crops and hay stores desired by the military were taken and any remaining were burned. There are several personal accounts just on the Lone Jack museum site itself. It was a very dark time and regardless of the reasons, the government sanctioned and did things that should have never been done.

 

[Connecticut Sam]

Many great stories.

 

[horsepower]

I was visiting with a neighbor today. He told me where a couple old schools were and 3 different burial plots but someone has removed the headstones from one and farmed over it years ago. He also told me, "Hey, you should look up on that bluff over there--there a protracted skirmish between the Jayhawkers and Quantrill on it".

 

[horsepower]

Regarding the depopulation of my specific area, there is only one pre war home standing that I know of and the Union used it as a post. The area became known as the Burnt District and there is actually a monument currently being built to memorialize those who lost everything. From what I've read, smoke plumes where seen across the countryside and those who did eventually return essentially found nothing but stone chimneys.

 

[lastleg]

horsepower:

Thanks for the historical info you have provided. You are certainly in a prime
CW battle spot. Have any of your neighbors mentioned relic hunters detecting
on their property? It would be great if you find some undetected sites.

lastleg

 

[chirper97]

This continues to be a great thread!

It appears that Horsepower would be well served by teaming with an experienced relic hunter/researcher.

Keep us posted!

No specifics requested.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

The Burnt District came about due to the actions of the guerillas and General Order 11. No attempt was made to sort people along union or confederate lines. Every home and farm in the affected area was cleared. Confederates were helping the guerrillas voluntarily or at the point of a gun and the unionists were helping at the point of a gun. Most of the unionists headed to union states and most of the confederates moved to the south or the southern portion of northern states near missouri. I have a maternal great great grandmother who was born in the Burnt District and relocated to the Effingham, Illinois area during the civil war. She married there and stayed but her people moved back to missouri after the war. Although Kansas City held many unionists there were many confederates sympathizers and some folks who didn't have a dog in the fight and just stayed there for safety and econimics reasons. siegfried schlagrule

 

[Connecticut Sam]

#11 is a great story. Good Luck.

 

[horsepower]

I've been hunting about a bit and found some interesting sites. An old well and an old abandon roadway. I've traveled the roadway from one end to the other and found nothing of a homesite along although it had to lead to somewhere. Could have just been pasture access, I guess. I took some pics of the well, hoping someone will be able to help me date it or at least give an estimate. I've also found a three old bridges but they've got cement on them so I think they are much to new.

I've not been back to the specific battle site bluff yet. I don't want to look to anxious because the current owners father was convince that there was money buried there. He is long dead. The son believes it is an old wives tale. But I hunt, trap and cut firewood in there so if I time my forrays wisely, no one will think I am looking for anything.

Someone asked if the area had been hunted by relic hunters. I don't know for sure but I highly, highly doubt it. At least 1,500 acres of the ground I am discussing have been in the same 2 families for over 100 years and my neighborhood, God love them, doesn't abide strangers and doesn't call the sheriff. I've lived there over 10 years myself and am just now starting to gain access privileges to a lot of the land. When folks here I can get the beavers and muskrats out of their ponds, they typically say "Do whatever else you want except deer hunt cause cousin so and so comes every year for that".

I'll post my pics and some follow up questions to them later. Just got to work and have to see what is going on.

 

[horsepower]

Ok, here some pics. This well is capped with modernish looking cement but has a hole in the middle. The sun was shining brightly into the hole so I took a couple pics and zoomed one in. Can anyone guess the age based on the appearance, I know nothing of it. There is more than one well out there but I've never really payed much attention to them. This is now in my gps and others will be as soon as I come across them again.

This brick and several other shards were found nearby (within 50 yards) and an old cement water crossing. The piece of cement in the photo is there also. Anyway to hazard an age guess on these?

Finally, not really related but I also found these in another area. The clear bottle says Parsons sudsy ammonia and the blue bottles and crockery. I am sure much newer but anyone have any ideas.

 

[Curtis]

Hi HP,
You might want to check with some of the state and or county map/engineering divisions at the courthouses. They did do some topographical maps that early. There were the old Sanborn maps but they may not be of much help that early. You might also check with state historical societies and then there are always the books on battle maps and diaries of the soldiers. There are some private collections of documents out there and many universities have copies of them. If the courthouse wasn't burned then you can easily find out which Range and Township the area is in and then the section number. Then you can find out the names of people who lived in the area and even which quadrant they lived in. Some of the old Plats are that old and will give you the layout and locations of the homes.

 

[Connecticut Sam]

#15 has many great ideas. Merry Christmas to all.

 

[horsepower]

I'm closing in on the battle site. I've managed to ferret out the landowner's names and date at the time of the battle and have read several different battle reports in some archives that actually give miles from different locations I can use to triangulate for verification. But what I am most excited about is that in the descriptions I've read, I can picture the topography I've been reading about. I'VE STOOD THERE and examined this same ground, although I was looking for bobcat tracks, not CW history. Apparently in this skirmish which was a couple of brief encounters and one all out fight, a couple very notable names were wounded. Got a couple days off after the first of the year, guess where I'm wandering!!

 

[chirper97]

Horsepower,

Thank you for creating one of the best threads on T-Net

Looking forward to your progress!

 

[Connecticut Sam]

Best of Luck to all of you, it is very cold in Bridgeport, Connecticut.